Building, Planning, & Engineering

• Building & Planning
  Forms and Handouts

• Green Building &
  Your Project

• Green Building:
  Did You Know?

• Carol's Green Feature

• Town Requirements
  for Selling Property

• Public Works

• Building Permit FAQs

• Planning FAQs

Public Works Director:
The Town's Public Works Director is responsible for advising Town officials on the suitability of engineering design and conformance of development plans with Town grading, drainage and construction standards. He is also required, by ordinance, to enforce many of the Town's development standards.

Public Works Committee
To handle all maintenance emergencies that arise between 5 p.m. and 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and throughout the weekend, the Town of Portola Valley depends upon the civic-minded residents making up its Public Works Committee.

Since the Town's incorporation in 1964, it has championed a "less is more" approach to government, with a heavy emphasis on volunteer support. With the smallest town center staff in San Mateo county, the Town does not have weekend or evening staffers to provide "on-call" service for maintenance emergencies, and therefore successfully relies on its volunteer residents to manage these unexpected maintenance needs.

The committee provides assistance to the Town Engineer with field monitoring, public works maintenance budgeting, and requests for proposals. In addition, they periodically inventory roads, drainage systems, bridges, and playing fields to catch maintenance needs before they become problems. However, their true value to the Town is more keenly felt in their quick responses to such off-hours maintenance emergencies as putting up safety cones, barricades and/or caution tape, traffic redirection, emergency tree removal and management of flood related issues such as emergency landslide repairs and clearing plugged culverts.

It is a very unusual committee in this day and age, with the work being physically demanding, visibly constructive and definitely un-glamorous. However, its activity continues to safeguard the Town's tradition of volunteerism and frugality, with one committee member commenting, "we're all trying to be a part of what Portola Valley is-everybody pulls together when you need to, in order to help out."

For more information about the Public Works Committee contact: pubworkscomm@portolavalley.net.